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United States · New York · Buffalo

Erie County Holding Center

County jailMaximumUnder capacity (62%)LowHigh
Verified
Aging · 5mo ago
Sources last reviewed on

Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.

For families

How to send mail, money, and visit Erie County Holding Center

Step-by-step guidance using the United States system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.

Open toolkit
Photograph of Erie County Holding Center

Erie County Holding Center is a county jail located in Erie County, New York. Rated capacity: 638. Reported population: 397. Security level: Maximum. Data sourced from the HIFLD Prison Boundaries open dataset.

Background

The Erie County Holding Center in Buffalo, New York is a pre-trial, maximum security detention facility that serves Erie County. Capable of housing 680 inmates, it is the second largest detention facility in New York State outside of New York City. Inmate "Over-flow" is housed at the Holding Center Annex at the Erie County Correctional Facility in Alden, New York. The Jail Management Division of the Erie County Sheriff's Office conducts regularly scheduled tours of the facility for high school and college student groups, police academy classes and groups of "At risk" teens. The ECHC is staffed by approximately 500 Deputies whom are sworn police officers.

Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.

Capacity

638

Current population

397

Occupancy

62%

Year opened

—

Operational

Figures from official sources · verified 2 Jun 2026 · methodology

Facility profile

Population held

Mixed/unknown

Opened

—

Region

New York

Security level

Maximum

Death-row facility

No

Conditions

No conditions summary available yet.

Visiting

No visiting information available.

Mailing

No mailing information available.

Practical info

Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.

Known issues

The U.S. Department of Justice investigated Erie County Holding Center and Erie County Correctional Facility, New York under CRIPA and issued a findings letter in July 2009. The matter was subsequently closed as settled.

Notable inmates

Source: Wikidata + Wikipedia.

Documented human-rights cases

Contact & address

40 Delaware Ave, Buffalo 14202
(716) 858-7618
Official site

Conditions Risk Score

Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated

5/100
Low concern5/100
Overcrowding
0/30
Oversight reports
0/30
Structural flags
5/15
Death signals
0/15
Conditions text
0/10

What the score is responding to:

  • · Substantial documented known-issues record

This facility scores 5. The national average across 7,437 scored United States facilities is 2 — 3 points above national average.

Related facilities

All in United States →

Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.

Compared to other facilities in United States

7436 peers
Occupancythis: 62% · peers avg: 93% (33%)
Capacity (beds)this: 638 · peers avg: 547 (+17%)

Data completeness

74%

How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.

Sources

Cite this page

Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.

APA
World Prisons. (2026). Erie County Holding Center. Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/erie-county-holding-center
Chicago
"Erie County Holding Center." World Prisons. Accessed October 20, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/erie-county-holding-center.
BibTeX
@misc{worldprisons-erie-county-holding-center,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Erie County Holding Center},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/erie-county-holding-center},
  urldate = {2026-10-20}
}